Warner Bros. Batgirl movie cast In the Heights star Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon, better known as the titular superhero. The In the Heights star is an accomplished recording artist, landing multiple Latin Grammy Award nominations before she wowed audiences as Nina in the film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit Broadway musical. Recently it was reported that Grace was in the running for the role alongside Haley Lu Richardson, star of 2017's Columbus.
Barbara Gordon is perhaps the most beloved version of Batgirl to grace the pages of DC comics. She is the daughter of Commissioner James Gordon, a skilled detective and one of the few survivors of the Joker's brutal attacks, as seen in the pages of the phenomenally written A Killing Joke graphic novel. However, despite the character's popularity, she's only appeared in live-action a handful of times. Yvonne Craig first played her in the third season of the 1966 Batman television show, Dina Meyer played Barbara on the short-lived Birds of Prey series, and Alicia Silverstone played her in the much-maligned Batman & Robin movie. This new Batgirl film not only marks the character's return to live-action but her first solo outing overall.
After an extended development cycle, The Wrap is reporting that Warner Bros has cast Leslie Grace in the titular role of Batgirl. The film is directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with a script by Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson.
The film is set to premiere exclusively on Warner's streaming service HBOMax, a move that filmmaker Kevin Smith called a mistake. However the film is released, audiences and Batgirl fans will probably flock to see the finished product. Especially with the Bad Boys For Life directors at the helm and Hodson scripting. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were praised for the action sequences in Bad Boys, and Birds of Prey was hilarious and action-packed, thanks to Hodson's incredible script.
While there have been no plot or story details revealed, Batgirl has a ton of potential to satisfy audiences and be the beginnings of a long-running franchise. In the comics, her rouge's gallery is filled with colorful characters like Velvet Tiger, Blacksun, and, of course, The Joker. However, the likelihood of the Clown Prince of Crime being the movie's primary antagonist is pretty slim. Warner Bros. avoided using the character in the upcoming The Batman movie, and the character only briefly made a cameo in Hodson's Birds of Prey. Plus, with so many great villains to choose from, it would be wise for the movie to establish Barbara's bad guys as unique to her and not pre-established Batman foils.
Source: The Wrap